Harvey Weinstein at a Time magazine party celebrating its publication of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.”

Of all of the dismaying and disgusting details of the Harvey Weinstein saga, none is more depressing than this: It has so few heroes.

There
is a storybook villain, Mr. Weinstein, whose repulsive face turns out
to be the spitting image of his putrescent soul. There are victims, so
many of them, typically up-and-comers in an industry where he had the
power to make or wreck their careers, or bully or buy their silence, or,
if some allegations are to be believed, rape them.

But mostly there are enablers, both those who facilitated his predations and those who found it expedient to look the other way.

The enablers were of all sorts. Corporate board members who declined to investigate allegations of his sexual behavior and now claim the news comes as “an utter surprise.”
Assistants who acted as “honeypots,” joining meetings between Mr.
Weinstein and his intended victims to give them a sense of security —
and then leaving the predator to his prey. Reporters who paid him
tribute with awards, did his bidding with fawning coverage, or went after his enemies with hit pieces.

A lavishly paid Italian studio executive whose real job, according to former Times reporter Sharon Waxman, was “to take care of Weinstein’s women needs.” (A lawyer for the executive reportedly denies the allegation.)

And then there was the rest of Hollywood.

Mr.
Weinstein’s depredations were an open film industry secret, the subject
of an onstage joke by Seth MacFarlane at the 2013 Oscar nomination
announcement. Everyone laughed because everyone got it. Some of his
victims, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, became Hollywood powers in their own
right but never publicly rang an alarm until this week. The actor Ben Affleck,
who owes his start to Mr. Weinstein, is an overnight laughingstock
because he acts surprised by the producer’s behavior. He won’t be the
only celebrity doing his best Claude Rains “shocked, shocked”
impression.

This latest episode after Clinton, Trump, Cosby
et al. can only strengthen women who are taken advantage of by powerful
men in the workplace...

Even
some of the ostensibly good guys in this saga cannot be let off
lightly. In The New Yorker, Ronan Farrow reports that Irwin Reiter, a
top Weinstein Company executive, sought to console one of the office
assistants harassed by Mr. Weinstein by saying the “mistreatment of
women” was a longstanding company issue and that “if you were my
daughter he would not have made out so well.”

But Reiter never went
public.

Perhaps
it should come as no surprise that an industry built around pretended
characters and scenarios could have pretended for so long that nothing
was amiss. Perhaps it should be no surprise, either, that its concept of
ethics is every bit as ersatz and inconstant as most everything else in
Tinseltown.

The outrage over Mr. Weinstein also has a whiff of opportunism. In recent years, notes
New York magazine’s Rebecca Traister, Weinstein has “lost power in the
movie industry” and is no longer “the indie mogul who could make or
break an actor’s Oscar chances.” Lame horses get shot.

It’s
in this context that one can mount a defense of sorts for Mr.
Weinstein, who inhabited a moral universe that did nothing but cheer his
golden touch and wink at (or look away from) his transgressions — right
until the moment that it became politically inconvenient to do so.

Conservatives are trying to make hay of the fact that Mr. Weinstein
donated lavishly to Democratic politicians, backed progressive causes
and distributed films such as “The Hunting Ground,” a documentary about
campus sexual assault.

But
the important truth about Mr. Weinstein isn’t his moral hypocrisy: In
movies as in politics, hypocrisy isn’t just an accepted fact of life but
also an essential part of the job.

The
important truth is that he was just another libidinous cad in a
libertine culture that long ago dispensed with most notions of personal
restraint and gentlemanly behavior. “I came of age in the ’60s and ’70s,
when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different,”
Weinstein wrote in his mea culpa to The Times last week. “That was the culture then.”

That
line was roundly mocked, but it contains its truth. Like those other
libidinous cads — Bill Clinton and Donald Trump — Weinstein benefited
from a culture that often celebrated, constantly depicted, sometimes
enabled, seldom confronted, and all-too frequently forgave the behavior
they so often indulged in.

Hyenas
cannot help their own nature. But the work of a morally sentient
society is to prevent them from taking over the savannah. Our society,
by contrast, festooned Weinstein with honors, endowed him with riches,
and enabled him to feast on his victims without serious consequence for
the better part of 30 years. The old saw that all that is needed for
evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing was never truer than it
was in Weinstein’s case.

It
may be that Weinstein’s epic downfall will scare straight other sexual
miscreants, or at least those who tolerate their behavior and are liable
for its consequences. Don’t count on it. Our belated indictment of him
now does too much to acquit his many accomplices, and too little to
transform a culture that never gave him a reason to change.

Woody Allen Warns of ‘Witch Hunt’ After Weinstein Allegations

Woody Allen - “You also don’t want it to lead to a witch hunt
atmosphere,” he said of the accusations against Harvey Weinstein.

In
an interview with the BBC published early Sunday, the director Woody
Allen addressed the wave of allegations against Harvey Weinstein,
calling it “tragic for the poor women” but also warning against a “witch
hunt atmosphere.”

Mr. Allen’s comments to the BBC were published on the heels of Mr. Weinstein’s expulsion from the Motion Picture Academy
on Saturday. The director and producer worked together on several films
in the 1990s, and Mr. Allen denied knowledge about any misconduct: “No
one ever came to me or told me horror stories with any real
seriousness,” he said. “And they wouldn’t, because you are not
interested in it. You are interested in making your movie.”

“The
whole Harvey Weinstein thing is very sad for everybody involved,” Mr.
Allen said. “Tragic for the poor women that were involved, sad for
Harvey that his life is so messed up.”

However,
Mr. Allen also cautioned about rushing to judgment. “You also don’t
want it to lead to a witch hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where
every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a
lawyer to defend himself. That’s not right either.”

Mr. Weinstein’s public stature has rapidly fallen since The New York Times published an investigative report on
Oct. 5 detailing decades of sexual harassment allegations against him.
Last week, Ronan Farrow, Mr. Allen’s estranged son, published an article in The New Yorker recounting the stories of 13 women who say Mr. Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them since the 1990s.

In
1993, Mr. Allen was accused of sexually abusing his 7-year-old
daughter, Dylan Farrow. The fallout from the accusations, combined with a
bitter custody battle with Mia Farrow, left Mr. Allen’s reputation
badly damaged. However, Mr. Weinstein offered him a lifeline through his
company Miramax Films, when he agreed to produce his 1994 film “Bullets
Over Broadway.” “Shunned by Hollywood means nothing to Miramax,” Mr.
Weinstein told the Los Angeles Times in a 1994 interview. “We’re talking about a comic genius.”

“Bullets
Over Broadway” would go on to be nominated for seven Oscars, and Mr.
Allen would make several more films for Miramax, including “Mighty
Aphrodite” and “Everyone Says I Love You.” The actress Mira Sorvino, who
won an Oscar for “Mighty Aphrodite,” told Mr. Farrow
that Mr. Weinstein sexually harassed her while they were promoting that
movie at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1995.

Mr. Allen’s children, Dylan and Ronan Farrow, have continued to speak out against him. In 2014, Ms. Farrow wrote an open letter in The New York Times
further detailing her allegations of her father’s abusive behavior and
condemning the film industry’s apathy: “That torment was made worse by
Hollywood. All but a precious few (my heroes) turned a blind eye.” (Mr.
Allen wrote a Times op-ed denying the accusations.) Mr. Farrow has been vocal about his support for his sister.

Tendler-Like Teacher Says He Only Pursued Students After School!

World's Greatest Criminal Mugshots!

If Your Child Gets Raped - Go First To Your Rabbi - די באַסטערדז!

For My Israeli Readers! צפייה ביקורתית של יהדות אורתודוקסית

CLICK!

Mazel Tov - Rabbi Hershel Schachter!

CLICK ABOVE PHOTO! Rabbi Moshe Feinstein states the very marriage of a gentile woman to a non observant Jew, is equivalent to an open declaration that she will not observe the precepts. This is so, because it is highly unlikely that the gentile member of such a union, will be more committed to Judaism than her remiss Jewish husband (certainly when they are living together prior to their marriage). Unlike mental or tacit negations, explains Rav Feinstein, open declarations do invalidate conversions. When such cases appear before a rabbinical court, its members actually become witnesses to an acceptance declaration that is not sincere. Therefore, it is no longer a tacit insincerity, but rather an obvious one. As such, they are forbidden to sanction the conversion. Regardless of what this Jewish court may declare, the conversion is invalid and the person is not deemed a member of the Jewish nation. In Iggros Moshe, Letters of Moshe (Yoreh De’ah, no. 157), he writes that “According to the Law, it is certain that one who converts for the sake of marriage, does not intend to keep the commandments, and is not a proselyte at all.”

The Tendler Disease in the News - Again!

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Child Molestor is Castrated in Plea Deal!

CLICK ON CUT 'EM OFF TENDLER!

We Are In A Time When The Sheep May No Longer Trust The Shepherds!

CLICK!

Tendler Country - Ex - High School Principal Gets 8 Years For Molesting Students!

New Square Appoints Vaad To Deal With Sexual Abuse!

Lakewood Kollel Opens In Senegal!

Scandals Tests Trust in Leadership!

Rabbi Matt Salomon Offers The Pope His Help!

CLICK ON PHOTO!

Oy! Does He Have A Headache!

CLICK ON YOSEL!

Child Abuse - Chipping Away At The Wall Of Silence!

CLICK ON BRIDGE - FOR SALE AT THE AGUDATH ISRAEL!

Rav Yosef Blau Shlita

***CLICK ON PHOTO!*** "Batei Din in our times are not effective in dealing with criminal behavior. Lacking the investigative arm of the police and having restrictive standards of testimony they can not establish guilt. When the culprit is charismatic, he can often get protégés who feel indebted to him to lie to the Beis Din. It takes years before those who have been abused as youngsters to openly face their abuser."

Kolko's Office Sign - Auctioned On eBay!

I'm a bit concerned about Ehud - he can't seem to keep his hands off of me!

Ehud asked me to pardon him!

Looks like George has been hangin' with Bill Clinton!

I look into your eyes --- and I see a rotten crook!

Did you hear the one about the rabbi & the priest? Rabbi Kolko penetrated the priest (oh father)...